ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electrification advocates worry Georgia’s bid to become an electric vehicle manufacturing leader may be undercut as state lawmakers consider adding electric vehicle charging taxes to what are already the nation’s highest EV registration rates. (Georgia Recorder)

CLIMATE:
• An uncertain recovery begins after tornadoes killed at least 25 people and devastated Mississippi and the Deep South. (Washington Post, Associated Press)
• Rural communities in eastern Kentucky seek to shore up often urban-centric weather forecasting and broadband infrastructure as they face increasingly severe weather such as last summer’s flooding. (Daily Yonder/Grist)
• Eastern Kentucky residents who were displaced by last year’s flooding still struggle to find housing more than six months later. (Washington Post)
• A Virginia university announces it will close its coastal policy center, leading critics to worry about a void in knowledge as the state faces rising seas and more intense rainfall. (Virginia Mercury)

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SOLAR:
• Kentucky city officials warn of scammers piggybacking on the city’s new “Solarize” initiative to incentivize rooftop solar installation. (Lexington Herald Leader)
• A regional solar industry group hails North Carolina regulators’ approval of a program to shift solar customers from monthly credits to a time-of-use rate structure that incentivizes the use of solar when it is most needed. (news release)

STORAGE: An energy developer begins operations at a 200 MW battery storage facility in Texas. (ReNews)

OIL & GAS:
• A Texas liquified natural gas terminal haltingly returns to service after an eight-month outage due to a fire, with its periodic fits and starts keeping markets on edge. (S&P Global)
• A natural gas utility says it welcomes an Arkansas investigation of more than 2,800 customer complaints about its natural gas purchasing and billing practices, suggesting falling gas prices will take care of the issues. (Arkansas Business)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: North Carolina residents complain to officials about inadequate protection from state regulators against big polluters, as Gov. Roy Cooper considers an executive order addressing environmental justice concerns. (Raleigh News & Observer)

RENEWABLE GAS: Oil and gas companies mount a push for renewable gas projects as a nod to the clean energy transition, including a company that recently announced it would build a dairy-waste-to-gas operation in Florida. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR:
• The Tennessee Valley Authority announces it’s preparing a construction permit for a small nuclear reactor at an eastern Tennessee site. (WBIR)
• A Virginia planning district receives grants to study the feasibility of building a small modular nuclear reactor and supply chain to support it. (Cardinal News)

POLITICS:
• A Florida lawmaker worries his local utility would be adversely affected by legislation to move oversight of municipal utilities from cities to state regulators. (Florida Politics)
• Oklahoma Republicans say their push against environmentally conscious investment programs protects the state’s oil and gas industry, but critics worry it targets many of the same companies the state is ostensibly trying to attract. (Oklahoman)

GRID: Appalachian Power says it has restored power to most of the more than 58,000 customers who lost power in windy weekend weather. (WV Metro News)

COMMENTARY: Officials in San Antonio, Texas, are rightly lobbying to block state legislation to prevent the city from using municipal utility revenue as part of its general budget, writes a columnist. (San Antonio Report)

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Mason has worked as a journalist since 2001, covering Appalachian communities and the issues that affect them. He compiles the Southeast Energy News digest. Mason previously worked as a wildlife biologist before moving into journalism by freelancing at Coast Weekly in Monterey, California, before taking an internship in 2001 at High Country News. He wrote for the Enterprise Mountaineer in western North Carolina and the Roanoke Times in western Virginia before going freelance in 2012. His work has appeared in Southerly, Daily Yonder, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, WVPB’s Inside Appalachia and elsewhere. Mason was born and raised in Clifton Forge, Virginia, and now lives with his family and a small herd of goats in Floyd County, Virginia.